Hiker trying to save dog that fell off ridge gets stuck below Hawaii trail, rescuers say
A hiker searching for her dog after it fell off a ridge got stranded on the slope of a Hawaii trail, rescuers said.
The woman was trekking the Wiliwilinui Trail in Waialae with her leashed dog, a 45-pound mixed-breed, for about two hours on Saturday, April 15, when it fell, the Honolulu Fire Department said in a news release.
Though the hiker could hear the dog, she could not see it, the department said.
After the hiker called 911 around 10:30 a.m., rescuers said they plotted her geolocation at about two miles from the start of the trail.
An aircrew found her shortly before 11:30 a.m. and dropped a rescuer to her location, the department said.
The rescuer determined the hiker and her dog needed to be rescued because they were “off of the trail on the slope of the ridge,” according to rescuers.
The department said they inserted additional rescuers to set up a “rope rescue system to hoist the hiker and dog back on the trail to safety.”
The hiker and dog were not hurt, the fire department said.
The Wiliwilinui Trail is a nearly 5-mile trek with an elevation of 1,617 feet, according to the travel website Uprooted Traveler. While the hike is of moderate difficulty, the “trail is almost always slippery and has some steep drop offs.”
Waialae is about 6 miles southeast of Honolulu.
This story was originally published April 16, 2023 at 11:09 AM with the headline "Hiker trying to save dog that fell off ridge gets stuck below Hawaii trail, rescuers say."
